Cleaning up the rot in politics and business
WITH the political parties busy in hurling abuses at each other and pre-occupied with just digging up the past, the country's administration is going through a crisis of confidence. Growing corruption is the worst problem facing the government. Majority of the politicians flaunt their wealth, no matter that they owe banks millions of taka as overdue loans with little intention to pay even the interest due. We are ruled not by people who fought for our freedom but who have the most money. And it does not matter where the money came from.
The weakening moral standard and authority of politicians only increase the arbitrary power of officials in the administration. Bureaucrats are indifferent to public cause and shirk their administrative responsibilities. Public employees demand pay offs for moving a file from one table to the other. Water, gas, electricity, income tax assessment, land registration, and land possession, city corporation tax assessment and tax payment, train and bus tickets during 'Eid' rush can all be had but for a small price.
People want fulfilment of the promises made to them time and again by the leaders -- freedom from hunger and poverty, job for all, education for all, and healthcare for the vast multitude of suffering humanity. People are now convinced that unscrupulous and dishonest persons in public offices cannot be booked, because of the politicisation of criminal investigation at certain stages.
The embezzlement of Tk. 3,600 crore from the Sonali Bank by Hall-Mark Group and five other companies in collusion with the bank officials points to simply poor governance.
A former APS of a state minister in the past government pocketed huge sum of money, other than land and flats he has purchased in and outside the country through issuing Hajj licences to unscrupulous agencies. ACC has already unearthed traces of such hefty sum of money in the bank accounts of the alleged offender and his relations.
Providing illegal gas connections to about 20,000 houses in some villages by extracting Tk.35,000-45,000 from each consumer, with or without the knowledge of the Titas Gas authority, must be construed as robbery in broad daylight. There is no indication that Tk.54 crore collected through such illegal means has been deposited in the public exchequer.
An elected government has only five years to cleanse, relocate and adjust structural reforms. If it resorts to dilly-dallying or is accused of narrow vision, ethical flexibility and partisan mind set, the cost will be heavy in terms of diminishing popularity, increasing public disgust and future election prospects.
The High Court verdicts in three cases -- recruitment in the food department by increasing the marks in the oral examination after the written test; annulment of Section 32(ka) of the ACC ordinance that required prior permission of the government for instituting corruption cases against the government servants; and the death sentence verdict against 8 government servants in the 10 truck weapons haul case in 2004, for siding with the then ruling party, have put the government servants in jeopardy. People have seen what it might entail if the government of the day tries to politicise the administration.
Few countries in the world are more scandal ridden than Bangladesh. Charges of impropriety are labelled against politicians almost routinely after they quit power. However, reports of such scandals disappear from the papers and public memory within a few days. But some of them, like Padma bridge graft allegation, Hall-Mark and Destiny fraud and stock market scam, have remarkable staying power because of the their importance.
It is not hard to find why and how corruption spread its venomous wings in this country. The defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption was shackled by an order of the ex-president Ershad, and no cases of corruption of officials in the high offices could be taken up without the approval of the chief executive. Subsequently, the parties that were in power reaped the benefit of this bad decree that discriminated between common masses and the persons in the high state offices.
There was a time when in every walk of life there were men and women who rose to heights of professional excellence, yet led austere lives. Politics was a blessed vocation. Till 1970, some of the best minds were drawn to politics. They had no goal except fighting for freedom and economic emancipation of the people, and reaped no reward except imprisonment.
Consider the sea change that has taken place in the political landscape in just about 40 years. Politics is no longer considered a service, but has become an industry. Most of the politicians are now business tycoons. It is because of the politicians' attitude of bending the law to suit their own convenience that the country now bleeds. In consequence, callousness, indifference, and defiance of law have become a trademark.
Corruption is now a buzzword in the country and has sent shockwaves across the world, causing a sharp dip in donor assistance. Politicians must now understand that rhetoric can neither feed the people nor keep the nation marching towards prosperity and stability.
Power and glory ultimately come from the economic muscle, and that is the greatest challenge a sensible government must try to meet. Unless we can imbibe the age-old credo that honesty, hard work and commitment bring rewards, the whole society may be doomed to destruction. In a society that increasingly covets money over glory a politician's job has lost its lustre.
The writer is a columnist of The Daily Star. E-mail: [email protected]
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